1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to quick disconnects and more specifically to a quick disconnect having a spring seal which compensates for misalignment between the female and male connectors thereof to permit interconnection therebetween even when there is radial, axial and angular misalignment of the male member relative to the female member.
2. Prior Art
Quick disconnects are well-known in the art. They are commonly used to interconnect one flexible pipe to another flexible pipe, both of which pipes are adapted for the flow of a fluid therethrough. The term "pipe" as used herein means any type of fitting, hose, boss, etc., to which a quick disconnect may be attached. The term "quick disconnect" is derived from the performance characteristics of this type of connector. More specifically, a quick disconnect is adapted to permit disconnection of the two fluid carrying pipes with a self-sealing feature designed so that little or no quantities of the fluid escape the connectors upon disconnection. Furthermore, the process of disconnecting the two pipes can be implemented by simple mechanical release thereof without the necessity for disconnecting or unfastening a plurality of conventional fastening elements such as bolts and the like.
Virtually all quick disconnects comprise two major members called a "coupler" and a "nipple", respectively. Each such member is designed to mate with the corresponding fluid carrying pipe and then to be mated with each other so that the respective pipes can be interconnected. The nipple may be regarded as the male member in that it slides into the coupler. Typically, the nipple comprises a spring loaded poppet and the coupler comprises a stationary stem. When the coupler and nipple are mated, the coupler stem is designed to engage the nipple poppet, pushing it away from the interface of the two members whereby to permit fluid flow around the poppet of the nipple as will be hereinafter more fully described. In addition, when the two members are interconnected, the nipple body slides into the coupler body so as to depress a spring loaded cylinder called the coupler poppet, the depression of which allows fluid flow through the coupler as well. In order to interconnect the coupler and nipple portions of the quick disconnect it is generally necessary to axially align the two members relative to one another.
When the coupler and nipple members of a quick disconnect are connected to flexible hoses readily accessible for being manually aligned relative to one another, there is generally no difficulty in assuring that the two members are axially configured relative to one another to provide easy interconnection therebetween. However, there are occasions when it is difficult or impossible to accurately control the axial position of the coupler and nipple relative to one another to assure that they are perfectly aligned to facilitate their easy interconnection. One such example of inaccessibility of alignment arises when the respective members of a quick disconnect are mounted to boxes or chassis such as those which contain electrical equipment which, for example, are to be panel mounted. Such a configuration may, for example, be encountered in the avionics equipment bay of an aircraft where electrical equipment requires fluid coolant to dissipate relatively high levels of power. In such situations, one or more couplers of quick disconnects may be mounted to one piece of electrical equipment and one or more nipples of quick disconnects may be mounted to a second piece of electrical equipment. Such quick disconnects may be provided to permit the flow of a cooling fluid between such electrical equipment so that one source of cooled fluid may be used to circulate among a plurality of electrical equipment chassis in order to carry away the heat generated by the power dissipation of such electrical equipment.
Precise axial alignment of the mating coupler and nipple portions of each quick disconnect in such configurations may be very difficult. Such difficulty may arise because the quick disconnect members are not accurately positioned on the electrical chassis so that one such member is displaced axially, radially and angularly with respect to the other. Conventional quick disconnect members which require virtually precise axial alignment of the coupler and nipple for mating and proper sealing of the quick disconnect, may make it virtually impossible to overcome such difficulties thereby requiring more expensive accurate placement of the quick disconnect members on the respective electrical equipment chassis. This is particularly true where one or both such electrical chassis to be mated to another, is mechanically constrained so that it is impossible to adjust the overall position of the electrical equipment chassis to compensate for the inaccurate alignment of the quick disconnect members.
The following U.S. patents are relevant to the present invention:
3,532,350 Kaufman PA0 4,023,831 Thompson PA0 4,116,451 Nixon et al PA0 4,160,551 Nixon et al PA0 4,191,389 Jelinek PA0 4,196,913 Oak PA0 4,387,902 Conover PA0 4,470,608 Warren PA0 4,599,171 Padilla et al PA0 4,657,188 Crane et al
U.S. Pat. No. 4,657,188 to Crane et al is directed to a spray system for a dishwashing machine having an inlet conduit adapted for insertion into a supply conduit to connect a spray manifold to the supply. The lower end of manifold includes an inlet conduit having an open end which is insertable within open end of branch conduit, having a widened mouth formed about open end. A sealing O-ring is disposed within a groove about open end of inlet conduit, forming a fluid tight seal upon insertion of open end into open end.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,023,831 to Thompson is directed to a plastic pipe fitting having a telescoping member. A tubular member extends axially outwardly from coupling member, which includes a pair of O-ring seals located within annular grooves, within coupling member. The end of tubular member, disposed within coupling member, is provided with a ring member secured by fusion bonding to the outer surface of tubular member. However, ring member is not an end seal, but is adapted to limit the extent of axial movement of tubular member outwardly from coupling member.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,532,350 to Kaufman is directed to a composite seal comprising an annular ring of resilient material and having springs embedded therein. The annular packing ring comprises resilient material, such as rubber or plastic, and a springs reinforce the biasing effect of the packing member. In another embodiment, a U or V-shaped spring is embedded within a packing ring and includes outwardly extending fingers or may be continuous as provided with a spring shown in FIGS. 7 and 8.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,196,913 to Oka is directed to a gasket having a construction wherein an undulating base plate is located intermediate a pair of surface plates. The base plate is provided with undulations surrounding holes in the gasket to impart elasticity to the base plate, as is similarly done in the present invention using a multiple-turn wave-type spring. The surface plates are metallic in nature and may be slightly softer than the base plate, as this gasket is intended for use as a cylinder head gasket.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,470,608 to Warren is directed to a resilient gasket having an internally an internally positioned spring means. The flexible resilient gasket is shown to include a metal spring means. The spring means is formed by a pair of elongate strips of spring steel which are curved along their length, with the concave surfaces facing each other.
There is therefore a need for a quick disconnect member which is designed to permit axial, radial and angular misalignment between the male and female members of the quick disconnect while still providing a secure and leak-proof interconnection therebetween.